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The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,627 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Black Cake

Constance Hays Matsumoto Why did I love this book?

Black Cake is evocative—its title, story, and characters.

A black cake doesn’t sound tasty, but Wilkerson’s layered family drama, Black Cake, is delicious. The cake debuts on the first page, smeared on a wedding dress in the hands of the police. Some weddings are doomed from the start, as if the cake were bad. Black. Lightless. Cursed.

This legendary Jamaican fruitcake shows up again and again as this multi-cultural, multi-generation story unfolds moving between past and present, unraveling deception among Wilkerson’s well-developed characters with intriguing connections.

Black Cake is a fast-paced narrative replete with twists and turns. Can you really savor the page when you’re turning them at lightning speed? Indeed!

By Charmaine Wilkerson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black Cake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE INSTANT NO. 2 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

**Featured on Barack Obama's Summer Reading List 2022**
**A Grazia Instagram 'IT' book to watch out for**
**Soon to be a major Hulu series by Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Kaplan and Marissa Jo Cerar**

Everyone wants to discover what they're made of . . . The compelling and beautifully written story about the inheritance of the secrets, betrayal and memories that shape one family for generations

'A story as meaningful as it is delicious. At turns delightfully juicy and then stunningly wise, Black Cake is a winner' TAYLOR JENKINS REID

'A roiling soup…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of A Daughter's Kaddish: My Year of Grief, Devotion, and Healing

Constance Hays Matsumoto Why did I love this book?

Sarah Birnbach’s beautiful memoir, A Daughter’s Kaddish, is an inspiring story of deep love and respect—of a daughter for her father. 

I’m Christian and opened this book with a basic understanding of Judaism. As the story unfolded, I learned the meaning behind unfamiliar Jewish traditions, like the Kaddish. Birnbach writes of her challenging journey to push the boundaries of her own grief and gender biases to tirelessly honor her father and their faith. She writes from the heart with honesty and warmth, her prose is lyrical, and her descriptions imaginative.

As someone who lost her father prematurely, I’ve always wondered if my dad is looking down at me, nodding, grimacing, smiling, laughing, scowling, cheering. If such is the case with Sarah’s father, he’s beaming with pride. If you’ve loved and lost someone, A Daughter’s Kaddish will warm your heart and uplift your soul with cherished memories.

By Sarah Birnbach,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Daughter's Kaddish as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A woman breaks with Jewish tradition to honor her late father in this moving memoir of faith, grief, and transformation.

A Daughter's Kaddish recounts Sarah Birnbach's year-long odyssey to persevere through an unfamiliar world of Jewish prayer. To honor her beloved father, Sarah commits to reciting the Mourner's Kaddish twice a day in synagogue for eleven months-a Jewish mourning ritual that was historically reserved for sons-despite her father's initial request that she hire someone male to do so. A novice worshipper and single working mother, Sarah encountered many obstacles-including gender-based objections to her prayer practice, her own daughter's near-fatal car…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of No Two Persons

Constance Hays Matsumoto Why did I love this book?

Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is an artfully crafted novel of interconnected short stories that was delightful to read. In the story, Alice is a debut author. She releases her book on launch day and hopes for the best.

It made me smile to reflect on the journey my own recently released book will take, the many different people who will read it, and how the book might affect them. Once a book is published, it belongs to the reader. And each reader will absorb the pages differently. Different hands will hold it. Different eyes will wander its text. And different hearts and minds might be touched or changed.

No Two Persons is a treat—for fiction readers, writers, and authors alike! And just like the characters in No Two Persons, each of us brings our unique perspective and will have a different experience reading it. No Two Persons piqued my curiosity and captured my heart.

By Erica Bauermeister,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked No Two Persons as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”*

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to…


Plus, check out my book…

Book cover of Of White Ashes

What is my book about?

The bombing of Pearl Harbor propels America into WWII and two Japanese Americans into chaos. Ruby Ishimaru loses her liberty and uproots from her Hawaii home to incarceration camps on the mainland. Koji Matsuo strains under the menacing clouds of the Japanese war machine and atomic bombing while concealing a dangerous secret—one that threatens his family’s safety.

When destiny brings Ruby and Koji together in California, their chemistry is magnetic, but wounds of trauma run deep and threaten their love as another casualty of war.

Of White Ashes illuminates the remarkable lives of ordinary people who endure seemingly unbearable hardship with dignity and patience. Their experiences compel us to reflect on the resilience of humanity and the risk of history repeating.